Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for monitoring integrated circuits.
Description of the Related Art
The world economy is heavily dependent on an electronic infrastructure. Almost every aspect of day-to-day life can be controlled in one way or another by an electronic system. As our dependence on electronic systems has continued to grow, the reliability of these systems has become of paramount importance. Reliability is particularly important for electronics embedded in weapons, defense systems, and medical devices. Recent effort has been expanded on building diagnostics into chips in order to monitor aging effects throughout their use.
One threat to the reliability of electronic systems is the contamination of the electronic components supply chain by counterfeit integrated circuits (ICs). For example, some counterfeiters simply remove and refurbish the packages of used ICs from old discarded electronics. These used chips may be close to the end of their useful lives. In addition, the stripping and refurbishing process is often done in uncontrolled environments by workers unskilled in proper ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) handling techniques. As a consequence, the chips often undergo additional wear and damage when put through the refurbishment process.